The Mercenary Original
by Devony V
Summary: Jake Sully had family; family that he'd left behind in the hope that he would return to Earth one day. He hadn't forgotten about her, and she hadn't forgotten him- but the RDA has just found her. REPOST UP.
1. Prologue: Brown Eyes

**Sorry guys, I fudged up on the first chapter. THIS was supposed to be the opening. Way to kill a story, right?**

He remembered her brown eyes.

They were warm, and his brother had said that they always reminded him of chocolate. He and his brother both had blue-green eyes, but his Ellie had brown eyes. Not hazel like their father, not blue like their mother, but dark brown.

She had light brown hair like their father. He and his brother had received Mother's dark tresses. She was pretty, like Mother. She was smart, like Tommy. She was tough, like Father.

He'd only seen her cry a few times. When their parents died. She'd been with Tommy at the time. They'd evacuated when the plague hit home, but their parents had already been quarantined. They died within a week. She's cried for another.

She cried when he had left for Venezuela after a one-day leave for her birthday. She'd been right- when he came back he'd been in a wheelchair.

She'd shed a few tears when they showed them Tommy's body. She'd turned away, unable to look at him. He'd kept a firm grip on her hand and a stony look on his face. Their brother, their champion, the genius- was no more.

Yet she didn't cry when he'd left. Or she did a good job at hiding it. She was ten years old at the time, a tender age. She knew he had to go, and he'd promised to return.

Now, as he stood on the branch of their new home, he couldn't help but let the few tears slide down his cheeks. The pain in his heart was starting to get to him. He'd promised to come back and he'd broken it.

Gentle footsteps caused his ears to perk up. He turned. His mate was waiting expectantly. Guilt suddenly hit him. She didn't know about the family he'd left behind. How could he count on himself to raise a family with this woman that he loved so much when he couldn't even take care of his parents, his brother…his sister?

"_Za'u yawne_?" She said gently. He smiled, getting into the habit of speaking in her native tongue. "_Oe ma, _Neytiri_. 'Aw swaw._"

She nodded and smiled, turning back to the people. He turned, looked at the sunset one more time. He couldn't help but think how much Ellie would love the sunset here. She loved color. She said many-a times that it was all she had.

He finally tore his gaze away and went with his mate, knowing that he would return to that spot, again and again for years, trying to remember, and cherish the memories he had while imagining the life she must have been living in his absence.

She'll be fine.

**Na'vi:  
>Za'u yawne- Come, love?<strong>

**Oe ma, Neytiri. 'aw swaw. – I am, Neytiri. One moment.**


	2. Chapter 1: Return to Sender

Chapter 1: RETURN TO SENDER

Hi, Jake, it's me, Ellie. Are you even getting these e-mails? I guess the system's down or something, huh?

So I graduated today…yes, college. Yeah, I started a little early…finished a little early…man, I really wish you were there for this. It was totally surreal.

I hope you're okay. Are you getting along up there alright? Haven't gotten into any fights? Though you could still probably kick ass even in a wheelchair…

Things are the same down here. Boring. I know you'd probably tell me to have fun on my graduation day, but that's pretty tough when my favorite guy isn't around.

I really miss you, bro. I hope you're coming home soon.

LOTS of love,

Your sister Ellie

Ella Sully's eyes trailed along the words she'd written nearly five years ago. As she clicked back to the other e-mails over the years, she noticed how they would progressively have less and less feeling in them. Because with each e-mail, came no response, and Ella began to lose hope that her brother was reading the words. Words that reminded him, over and over again, that he had family back home, and she loved him dearly.

It started off as daily e-mails. Eli, her godfather, had told her that Jake would sort of be her open diary after he got out of cryo-sleep. After five years, nine months and twenty-two days, she sent all of the e-mails to Jake, eagerly awaiting a response. None came. Ella then began composing e-mails weekly. Then monthly. Then she only sent e-mails when something big happened. When she got a boyfriend (that was a sketchy one, knowing how he would freak out). When she graduated, high school and college. It was then when she realized that Jake wasn't going to answer. She stopped sending pointless e-mails to nobody. Jake didn't know that she was pregnant at sixteen. That Roy left her, because she wanted to wait until Jake returned before they married. That she lost her baby. That she went back to Roy, begging him to take her back. That they married, and divorced, again.

Ella looked at her bedroom wall. There were awards, plaques, her Astro-Physics degree, her sociology degree, and many other pointless frames. Her success couldn't fill the gap in her life.

Next to her bed, the wall was full of photographs from her childhood. Nearly all of the pictures were of her and her beloved brothers. They were both ten years older than her and not nearly identical. Tommy was tall and extremely intelligent, and Jake, while not unintelligent, was short and stocky. They were different. While Tommy was winning academic achievement awards, Jake was cutting class and getting into fights. Tommy went into science, Jake joined the army. After their parents died, Ella lived with Tommy while Jake was on tours. When he lost his walking ability, Jake moved back into a small apartment near Tommy and Ella.

Tommy was killed when Ella was ten. She thought that she would just move in with Jake, and they could take care of each other. But Jake knew that he had no money, no way to cake care of Ella.

So he decided to leave.

Not lave her, necessarily. He knew that the AVTR program would pay- he'd have enough money to get Ella back to school, get them a better home, and get his legs back- but he'd have to pay the price of leaving all he had behind. Ella knew this. It killed her, but they both knew what was right.

"I'll come back, Ellie," he'd said. "I'll be back before you know it."

She was ten when he told her that. Ten years old, full of sorrow and mourning for Tommy, and hope and pride for Jake. Now she was twenty-three, divorced, and alone. And he still wasn't back.

Ella sighed, and grabbed her purse. Coffee was what she needed at a time like this.

Twenty minutes later, Ella was sitting in her favorite corner of her favorite coffee shop. Her star charts were in front of her as her eyes slid over them, studying the different diagrams and taking in the footnotes. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn't notice that a shadow had fallen over her until said shadow cleared its throat.

Ella glanced up. The shadow was a young man barely older than twenty-five. Several other suited men were behind him. A wave of nausea hit Ella. It couldn't be one of her confrontations coming back to her, was it?

"Dr. Ella Sully?" Ella took in the man's face. His hard hair was slicked back away from his forehead; his stance was casual, hands in his pockets. Many people would call his look "Devilishly Handsome," but Ella couldn't help but feel a bad vibe coming from this man. His pale face seemed vacant of any threat, but the friendliness seemed posed. His lips seemed to be twisted into a leer rather than a smile, and his grey eyes seemed cold and dark.

"Before I answer that, who are you?" Ella asked, keeping her guard up. The man cocked a dark eyebrow; Ella felt the sense of foreboding become greater.

"May I sit?" Ella nodded. As he sat, she studied him again. He was wearing a collared shirt, khaki pants and nice shoes. Ella felt strangely informal- he was meeting her, a famous astrophysicist in ripped jeans, a white tank top, a leather jacket and black boots. She knew her hair was messed up. She saw his grey eyes slide over the holes in her pant knees and her Aviators which were sitting on top of her research book. His eyes slid up her body and finally to her face. "My name is Nicholas Porter. My uncle worked with your brother, Thomas."

A wave of pain his Ella as her late brother's name was mentioned. She swallowed and took another sip of coffee, trying to hold back the flood of tears which were sure to come. After contemplating her answer, she could only say "Oh."

"They never did get to meet, due to his sudden death." Nicholas continued. His hard grey eyes were still focused on Ella, who began sipping her coffee with more and more haste as her discomfort grew. "However, your other brother was hired to take his place on the Avatar mission on Pandora-"

Ella then cut him off. "Look, I know my own life story. What do you want?" Ella knew that Jake wouldn't sit down and take this man's crap- how could he sit there, which an annoying smirk on his face, and replay the hardest moments in her life for her. "Tommy's been dead for twelve years. Jake's been gone since right after that. Do you have _any idea_ how it felt to lose both of my brothers at the same time? It was hell, man, I'll tell you that. Now, you're going to tell me what the hell you want, or leave me alone, got it?"

All during her diatribe, Nicholas sat calmly. The smile was now gone. He glanced over his shoulder, sighing, and then he set down his mug and leaned forward. "Okay, you want answers? Here it is. The crew from Pandora returned six months ago. The scientists, the militia, everyone. Don't you think Jake might have attempted to contact you if he'd come back?"

Ella suddenly returned to the night that Jake called her from the town morgue, telling her that Tommy was dead. It was the same night that he'd decided to go to Pandora and leave her with her godfather. She chocked out the three words she didn't want confirmed; "So he's dead?"

Nicholas looked down, taking a deep breath, then looked her in the eye for the first time. "No." he said. "But…he's not in a very good position."

"What do you mean?" Nicholas bit his lip, and looked straight back at her.

"He's been kidnapped by the natives on Pandora."


	3. Chapter 2: I'll Do It

Ella sat on her bed, sick to her stomach. The strain of the last twelve years was finally taking toll on her. If what Porter had told her was true, then Jake was in serious shit.

"_Kidnapped_?" she'd chocked out. He'd looked at her seriously.

"Yes," he said. "We think he may have been brainwashed…those damn savages have this magic man- Shaman woman, or whatever- but he thinks that he's one of them now."

Ella had fallen back in her seat. She was still staring at Porter in disbelief. "Start at the beginning. When the hell did this happen?"

Porter sighed. "I can tell you everything I know, everything I've found out since the crew got back- but I wasn't there myself. My uncle was, though- I found this out through one of his colleagues."

"But not from him?"

Porter's face had turned stony. "No. He was killed by one of the natives in cold blood. He was trying to save your brother, and they killed him."

Ella had felt a twinge of sympathy. Porter continued. "He was all I had…he'd promised to get me shipped out there once they made peace with the natives, but it never happened. Those- those _animals_- rebelled. All we were trying to do was make peace. Unfortunately, your brother got caught in the middle."

"How?" she'd demanded. Porter had sighed. "Jake was assigned to get the natives on his side, to convince them that it was okay to work along side us- they called us "Sky People" and we were hated- possible because we had more threatening technology. We told them that we would not use it unless they threatened us, and we'd have to use our machinery defensively, which is what we did. Thanks to your brother, they managed to somehow take down our entire fleet. Yeah, we were beaten by a bunch of damn savages with sticks."

"Jake wouldn't do that." Ella shot back. "He's loyal to- to us-"

"He was loyal, but they probably gave him some of their filthy voo-doo juice and it addled his brain." Porter scowled. "He killed the woman in charge of the operation- Grace Augustine."

Ella's jaw had dropped. Grace Augustine. When Jake had left for Pandora, Ella had tried to get her hands on every book about the planet she could. Grace Augustine's book was one of the better ones. "No!" she whispered. "That can't be- my brother-" Ella had buried her hands in her tangled hair, on the verge of sobbing.

"Ella," Porter said, his voice suddenly softening. He had reached across the coffee table and touched her hand. "I can understand that this is difficult for you-"

"Isn't there something you can do?" she gasped. "Can't you just- go get him?"

"We could…but unfortunately, they've stolen some of our machinery and forced us off of the planet. We can't go anywhere near that section of the galaxy without getting shot."

Ella shook her head, still staring at her knees. "God _damn_ it…"

"There _is_ one way…" Ella's head snapped up. "What?"

Porter had looked straight at her. "We could try to go near them…they're holding some of our best scientists' prisoner- if they contact us before they blow our ship up-" Ella gulped. "-if we had a legitimate reason to land on the planet…not just for peace settlements…" his gaze was becoming so intense Ella felt every fiber inside of her go weak.

"What are you saying?"

"Ella," he said somberly. "We know how much you care about your brother. I could see it in your eyes when I told you his tragic fate…the fear, the need to protect, the love…I could see it all. If you could- _go_ there, talk to him, make him realize…"

Ella sat up. "I'll do it."

Porter blinked in apparent surprise. "You will?"

"Yes, I damn will." She snapped. "My brother's in trouble, I'm going after him."

Porter's mouth was slightly opened, but he caught himself with a smooth grin. "Excellent. We leave tomorrow." He stood up and turned back to his men.

"Porter-" he turned. "You'll keep this to your word- nobody gets hurt. No weaponry, no backstabbing- right?"

Ella swore she saw a glint in his eye. "Sure thing," he replied smoothly. "We'll pick you up tomorrow. Eight o'clock sharp. Breakfast provided."

He turned and left, a swagger in his step. Ella remained in the booth. Her star charts were still sitting in front of her. Nearly knocking over her coffee she yanked the map up and held it to her face, scanning the Milky Way galaxy.

Her fingers traced the path that the ship would take to the gas giant Polyphemus. Her eyes fell upon the small moon- Pandora. Judging by the map, it was about 4.5 light-years away.

Having studied the planet for years, Ella knew much about its inhabitants. She'd suspected the Na'vi to be a peaceful species, but Porter had surprised her. Gone were the feelings of foreboding toward Porter; replaced by fear for her brother, her need to save Jake. He was in trouble- she knew that he'd do the same for her without batting an eyelash. These were dangerous creatures that had to be stopped.

She had swallowed, wondering what she'd gotten herself into.

She was still wondering that as she sat on her bed, staring at her favorite picture of her brothers and herself. It had been taken nearly a month before Tommy was killed. Tommy, tall and lean, his glasses slightly lopsided, was standing behind Jake's wheelchair. Her brothers were sporting identical, easy-going grins, contrasting slightly with her wide mouth that she'd always called frog-like. She sniffed.

Ella climbed off of the bed and looked straight in the mirror. Her hair still held a red tinge from her teenage years- her constant dye job of shocking red. She'd been into the style back then. Her eyes were a different color, but she had the same shape as Jake and Tommy had.

She wished that Porter had filled her in on exactly what had happened up there. How the _hell_ could Jake have been so stupid to get himself drugged up by aliens? He was always the fighter- the take-charge blockhead who wasn't afraid of a fight. Tommy had been the peacemaker- the diplomat who wanted to go to Pandora in the first place.

Ella turned away from the mirror to face her computer. She had an incoming video message. Frowning, she opened it.

Porter was sitting on the other end of his screen, in the same clothes she'd met him in. His fingers were pressed together as his intense gaze struck Ella through the screen.

"Good evening," Porter said smoothly. "I'm sending you an iBook on the Na'vi language- those are the natives. It's very difficult, and we'll be requiring you to speak the language. We must both be fluent by the time we get to Pandora."

"Why?" Ella asked suspiciously.

"It's all apart of the plan," Porter said smoothly. "We need to know the language like we know ours. Have you any experience in foreign languages?"

"I studied linguistics after getting my astro-physics degree."

"Good. Good." Ella had the impression that Porter had already known this. "Make sure you pack. Get extra clothes that will easily stretch- we can't provide your Avatar with any."

"Wait- my what?"

"I didn't mention? We'll be needing your DNA. Part of the plan to get your brother back. I'll explain it fully when we get onboard. Phase one involves infiltrating their home."

"As long as no one gets hurt, fine." Ella snapped. She didn't feel very comfortable going into the homes of these creatures that were so dangerous.

"Good night, Ella." Porter said smoothly.

"Likewise, Porter."

His smooth smile was seriously getting annoying. "Please, call me Nicholas."

"Yeah right," Ella muttered as the screen went blank. Clicking out of the video chat, she saw that the e-mail that she'd read earlier was still up. She scrolled up through the hundreds of messages to her very first one, written when she was twelve.

HI JAKE!

I know you're not on Pandora yet- I don't even know if you left yet, but I MISS YOU SOSOSOSOSO MUCH. Not that Eli's not wonderful or anything but I really miss you! I can't wait til your mission's over :-)

Eli and I went to Tommy's apartment today and we took out some of his stuff. I've been wearing his favorite shirt to bed- do you think he'd mind? I doubt it. I really miss him. But I'm trying to not be sad, I know you told me to not be sad. I'm trying, I really am!

I saw this special on the History channel about this thing they had once upon a time called an iPod- it's kinda like a G-O without holograms. What. A. Nightmare. When you get back can we go back on the Tron ride? After you get your surgery, I mean. I can't believe you'll be able to walk again! Didn't I tell you? DIDN'T I?

Anyway…I can't wait til you come home! I miss you and I love you big bro!

Lots & LOTS of love

Ellie !

Tommy once said that life comes at you like a speeding monorail and when it hits you, you realize how fast it can change. He justified that by turning up in the city morgue with a knife wound in his chest. Jake also justified that by coming home from Venezuela with a wheelchair instead of rum cake. And Ella experienced it today. It was hard to believe that she was just sitting at her computer that morning, wondering what had become of her brother, when this st range man walked into her life to tell her that he was in trouble.

I'll find you Jake. I'll save you. I promise.

**So you guys should know what's going on, right? ;) Next chapter coming soon!**

**-V**


	4. Chapter 3: Bittersweet Goodbye

**Sorry for the delay, I've got AP exams coming up. Luckily, I was sick today so I got the chance to finish this.**

**A few shout-outs I'd like to give-**

**chawk1993- Thanks for pointing that out- I mixed up the knife and gun. But to everyone else, I'll launch a full explanation of the timelines and ages that I messed up. I didn't think this through; I was too busy concentrating on making this story epic.**

**GreenpplOMG- aw dude, are you serious? I hope my story isn't similar to somebody else's :( I thought this was really original.**

**Enjoy this next chapter!**

_She was eleven and alone, in a dark apartment with a belly full of a TV dinner. It was nearly midnight and Tommy still wasn't home. He was always home by five thirty. He wasn't answering his G-O._

"_Tommy, where are you?" She whimpers. She rubbed at her eyes and pulled the blanket tighter around her skinny shoulders, trying to feel the protection that she longed for. She'd called Jake several times out of desperation, but he hadn't answered either._

_A sharp rapping on the door made her jump. She crept over and looked through the peephole, recognized the tall man with the sad eyes as her father's best friend, and opened the door. "Eli?" she whispered. _

"_Oh, Ella…"_

"_Tommy's not home…I don't know where he is…I called Jake but-" she cried to him. He bent down and picked her up, hugging her tightly. Over his shoulder, she saw a man with a sour expression that he could have passed off as somber. The badge on his chest boldly read RDA._

"_He's not coming home, Ella."_

_Eli's kind face suddenly disappeared. Ella found herself in the sky, flying over treetops, faster and faster. She comes upon a massive tree, and sees people- blue people- the Na'vi, like her book described. They were playing with their children-the taller one turned around, and to Ella's horror she saw her brother among them- _

A sharp ringing woke Ella. She's fallen asleep, still in her day clothes. It was nearly four in the morning. She scowled and grabbed her G-O.

"What?" she snapped.

"Good morning to you too," a voice chuckled. "Did you forget what today is?"

Ella blinked. "Wha- oh SHIT!"

"Shit's right. Get over here!"

Ella threw her G-O down and leapt off the bed, tripping over her packed bags as she went and raced for the shower. Five minutes later she was back in her room, scrubbing at her wet hair with her towel. She grabbed the necessary undergarments, her black turtleneck and her gray slacks. Pulling them on, she glanced in the mirror and shrugged when she saw her lack of makeup. She expertly braided her long hair as she searched her apartment for her keys.

Ella grabbed her packed bags and dropped them next to the door so that she could grab them and leave when Porter got there. She stopped and glanced around her nearly-stripped apartment. She'd left behind her trophies and plaques, but all of her pictures were in her second bag with her books; her first filled was with clothes and toiletries. She turned and opened the door, shutting in behind her and locking it. She took the elevator downstairs and stuck her letter in her landlord's mailbox, explaining her prolonged absence.

There was nearly nobody on the street at that hour- it was barely 4:20. She stopped at the monorail station and got on. It was nearly empty too, except for the occasional wanderer or apparently overworked person.

Ella got off at the stop outside of the city's Aeronautic Building. She raced inside, nearly running into someone.

"Ella!" Ella leapt back, dropping her satchel. "Oh, I'm sorry Jenna!" the building's petite secretary smiled tiredly. "Come on in, I was about to come look for you! We're about to launch!"

"Thanks for the call, by the way," Ella said. They both walked briskly, only stopping at the coffee shop. Ella followed Jenna to the lab, where a group of scientists were staring through a glass window at what seemed like the night- complete blackness.

The scientist in the middle- the tallest- turned at the sound of the door opening. His face broke out into a huge smile. "There she is! It's about time, we were about to launch without you!"

"Thanks, Jim. Really." Ella rolled her eyes. Jim chuckled and turned back to the window, turning on his headset. "Alright guys, since the Guest of Honor has finally decided to show up, we are ready to launch. Operation Eternity is a-go!"

Ella smiled. Operation Eternity had been Jim's idea- he claimed that it was inspired by Ella's constant complaints about how her brother never answered her e-mails. She'd gotten annoyed the first time he'd made that joke- she'd told him her worries only once, and it was personal. She'd told him so, and he stopped the jokes, but began operation on Project Eternity. It would send over communication to Pandora, whom they'd lost contact with, but the Administrative Board thought it would be a better choice to simply send the ship to planets beyond Pandora- farther than they'd gotten in the last 20 years.

"Launch in five…four…three…two…" the rocket fired up, the only light source in the darkness. Ella always marveled over how majestic it was; the way the rocket would lift up slowly, clearing the atmosphere cleanly and disappearing. Jim had been right to launch this early- the red against the night sky was beautiful.

"Launch successful. Good work people!" the scientists cheered as Ella chuckled. "Yeah. Nice counting you did there, Jimmy."

"I'm just so talented. We've come a long way from Sputnik, huh?" Jim's eyes followed the pillar of smoke that the ship had left behind.

"That wasn't us, Jim. But yeah, we have." Jim chuckled and nudged her. "Drinks on me tonight, guys!" The scientists cheered. Ella snickered. "You guys haven't even gone home yet?"

"'Course not," Jim said, pulling off his lab coat. "Join us? Oh wait, I forgot- she doesn't drink in the morning anymore."

"Hey, I can kick my morals in the teeth today. It's my last day here. For awhile, anyway." Jim paused. "Wait, what?"

Ella bit her lip. "I'm leaving, Jimmy. I'm going to Pandora, to find my brother." She looked away, scared to see her best friend's reaction.

After a moment of shocked silence, he finally responded. "That's…" he stopped. "I don't know what to say to that. If I should be happy for you or scared."

"Both's good," she muttered. Jim scratched his head. "I quit Avatar training when my mom got sick…I could have been going with you."

They both exited the observation room and stepped into the elevator. Ella hit the first floor and they began their descent. Jim was silent for most of the ride. Ella shifted uncomfortably on her feet and was slightly relieved when they reached the ground floor.

They exited the building, following the large group of scientists that were chatting excitedly. Jim stayed silent, apparently too wrapped up in his own thoughts to say anything. Ella kicked at the ground, irritated. She knew Jim was upset because he wasn't talking. He was always talking, cracking a joke or rambling about a recent discovery he'd made- while Ella smiled and nodded, giggling when necessary.

Jim had been her best friend for as long as she could remember. He was several years older than her. He'd been her mentor during college- all pre-college students needed mentors if they were under the age of 18. He and Jenna, his sister, had both lost their parents- their father to the plague, their mother to ALS. Ella had felt very relatable to them after learning this information. Being alone most of her life, they were her closest friends, and being older than her, they were always making sure that she had enough food, she was caught up on her rent, and (in Jim's case) beating the hell out of anybody who messed with her. Jenna, the sweet woman she was, was the one who made Ella come to her senses that Roy was bad for her; Jim was always cracking jokes to make her feel better after Jenna's psychotherapy. It wasn't like him to be silent.

"Alright, what's the deal?" she asked as they walked into the bar. He gave her a questioning look. "You know what I mean."

"I'm not the only one. What's up with _you_?" he questioned. "Touché. I asked first."

He sighed, and beckoned to the waiter, ordering beers for both of them. He turned to her. "Ells, I'm not sure if you should do this."

Ella didn't blink. "I have to, Jimmy."

"How the hell are you even going to get there?"

"This guy who had family working up there- he wants to go up there to help the people who were left behind after the revolt." She sipped the liquid. She hated the taste of beer, but she wanted one last drink with her best friend before they left the planet.

"Who?" Jim asked, his eyes narrowing.

Ella shrugged. "He had a family member who worked for the RDA while they were on Pandora, but they came back early."

"Ells, this isn't going to turn into a revenge-suicide mission, is it? You have no training for space, let alone to survive on a planet we know hardly anything about-"

"I know plenty about Pandora." She shot back. Jim raised an eyebrow. "Been studying, have you?"

Ella pressed her lips together and dropped her gaze to the beer in front of her. Yes, she had been studying- she'd searched hungrily for information about Pandora. Her ten-year-old mindset had had the idea that she would join Jake on Pandora once she was trained. _That_ idea was shot down quickly by Eli- Jake's doing, most likely.

"You've been planning this for awhile, haven't you?" he said quietly. Ella shrugged. "It's been in the back of my head," she said quietly. "But I never really thought about it until I got this opportunity." She turned to Jim and looked him straight in the eye. "You'll support me, won't you? You're my best friend."

For a moment, she swore that she saw Jim's eyes shining- of what, she could not tell. But he blinked, and put on that cocky smile. "Don't play the best friend card, kiddo."

Ella didn't blink. "But will you?"

Jim's smile dropped from his face and he looked down at his cup again. "I guess…" he trailed off as he finished off his drink. Ella was getting the idea that he was doing some very hard thinking. Jim wasn't one for expressing his emotions, kind as he was. He motioned to the bartender for a shot and turned to Ella. "I guess I'm just…." He quickly grabbed the shot glass and gulped it down, coughing. His head dropped and he continued mumbling. Ella caught the words "…won't see you again…." As he set the glass down and motioned for another shot.

Ella felt her heart swell. She set her hand on Jim's shoulder. He looked groggily at her. "I'm so sorry, Jimmy," she said quietly. He sighed and let his head droop, motioning for another shot.

Ella set her card on the counter. "That'll be his last one," she said quietly. The bartender nodded and took her card to get it scanned. Ella rubbed Jim's back and tried to wrap her arms around his broad shoulders in an awkward hug. She faintly heard him mumble "Good luck," muffled by his arms.

"Aw, Jim." Ella pulled back and leaned closer to his face, with a pained smile. Jim just kept his head on his arms, snoring slightly.

Ella leaned forward and pressed her lips to his cheek. "See you around, Jimmy." He didn't respond.

Ella thanked the bartender and accepted her card back. She walked over to the door, only to be stopped by Jenna. "What's going on?" she said quietly. Ella glanced over her shoulder at Jim. "Uh…I told him about this trip I'm going on."

Jenna raised an eyebrow, in a half smirk. Ella knew what was on her mind, and she frowned, showing Jenna that she knew exactly what she was thinking. "It's not like that, Jen."

"Okay, well, how long _is_ this trip?"

"Ah…" Ella shuffled her feet. "I…don't know."

"Oh." Jenna glanced. "I thought, if it was like a month or something, it wouldn't have been an issue. Man, he is-"

"Okay." Ella said firmly. "Well, I'll get out of your hair."

"Did you pack according to the climate?" Jenna said quickly. Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes- that was Jenna switching into Mom-mode. "Transportation safe? Is there a way to contact us if you need anything?"

"All taken care of, _Mom_." Ella said teasingly. Jenna smiled and hugged her tightly. "Have a good trip, Ells."

Ella felt her heart strain again. Jenna had no idea, no idea…that she'd never see her again. She felt like a liar, a traitor…Jenna's smile was too kind. So was Jim's. Ella knew that in her heart she couldn't bring herself to walk away from these two wonderful people. The guilt would kill her.

But she did. Once Jenna let go, Ella turned and walked out of the bar, heading toward her apartment.

**This was originally one whole chapter, but the second half of this needs serious revising. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle Ella leaving. We need a serious monologue chapter right about now.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! **


	5. Chapter 4: Memories Scorched

**Hi guys! AP exams went well, but now I have to do this research paper…that'll be hard considering I never read my books. Sorry 'bout that delay. I promised a monologue chapter. Also contains some fluff, unnecessary reminiscing just to make my OC feel bad about life in general, and I keep trying to make Jenna less subordinate and still make her motherly. Brief action sequence near the end, but I suck at writing those. Please don't sue me if your eyes start bleeding. I was listening to the soundtrack while writing this; I was trying to get into the mood. Enjoy!**

As she walked among the neon-lights of the city, she took a moment to look around at the planet. She'd gone to many seminars about the environment in her lifetime- her fallback plan was to be an environmental scientist specializing in keeping humanity intact. She knew that this need was similar to Jake's'- he wanted something to fight for, so he joined the army. She wanted to fight for her planet, so she tried to help contain the balance of life.

According to her history lessons, Earth had started going downhill right around the 21st century, when the natural resources of the world began slowly disappearing. At that time, the world's population had been about 7 billion people…it had more than tripled since. But because of the hell that was released along with the global energy crisis- the population has topped out at about 20 billion.

Her brown eyes rose up and focused on the large dome that covered her city. About a year ago, the need for masks while walking about the city was no longer needed. The government had a large dome built to supply clean air for the city, rendering exopacks useless. It also gave the impression of a beautiful, star-filled night sky- but Ella knew better. Beyond that dome was a dying world. The sky was a sickening gray color-all the time.

She's stayed in this city because Tommy had lived here. She'd practically grown up here. Eli had raised her here for as long as he could. Until the Second Plague hit. This time, she'd gotten infected, but she'd been one of the lucky ones. They were able to hold the infection from spreading about her body- but Eli, who was weaker than he looked, died within the month. She considered herself lucky that Jim and Jenna had taken her under her wing.

_Lucky. She _scoffed as she pulled out her key and opened her apartment door._ I'm not lucky. If I were lucky, I'd be visiting my parents every day. If I were lucky, I'd be coming home to Jake or Tommy. If I were lucky, I wouldn't be the shell of a person that I am now._

She bent down and grabbed her bags off of the floor. Turning around, she took one last look at the place that had been her home for years, and left.

It was nearly eight. Ella was standing outside of her apartment building, her bags by her side and her G-O in her hand. She stroked the screen gently, studying each picture.

Taken minutes after her birth. Her disheveled mother with a tired grin. Her nervous father holding her as though she was made of glass.

Taken hours after her birth. Two boys, identical smiles, sitting close to each other to support the baby girl in their arms.

A two-year old brunette, taking her first steps in a kitchen, a boy following her with his arms held out incase she fell, while the other was struggling to climb up the counter to the darned cookie jar.

A five year old with her arms hooked around her brother's neck, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the smell of the sweaty jersey he had on.

An eight year old, standing in between two boys in graduation caps and downs, diplomas in hand, huge smiles on their faces.

A ten year old, lying in a hospital bed with her brother, telling jokes to make him smile.

A twelve year old with a man who was not her father.

A fourteen year old, preparing to leave for her first day of high school.

A fifteen year old, with two college students, both while dark red hair and kind smiles.

A sixteen year old, with a boy who had a devilish glint in his eye.

An eighteen year old, with a college diploma and a sad smile.

Ella shook her head. Life always managed to bring her down. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes and trying to remember…

"_Tommy, say something in Na'vi."_

"_Lì'fya kawng."_

"_What's that mean?"_

"_In general, this language sucks. Why would you even want to learn it?"_

"_So I can go with you."_

Twelve goddamn years and the tears still pricked at her eyes every time she thought about her brother. Tommy had always been the sweeter and more considerate of the two, especially after Jake's accident. He was a stone-cold Marine, not her fun, joking older brother. That was partly why she didn't want Tommy, the responsible one, to leave her with Jake.

"_What if he's mean?"_

"_He's your brother, Ell, what makes you think he'd be mean to you?"_

"_He's not the same. He's not Jake."_

_Tommy set down the knife he'd been using to cut up Ella's fruit for her favorite dessert- fruit soufflé, even though it had nothing to do with cake. The word was fun, she'd said. "Jake's struggling, Ell. It's our job to be there for him."_

_He never once considered that Ella living with Jake would be a bad idea. When others did, he shot them down without hesitation. They could grow up together- something Ella had yet to do, and something Jake had never done. Tommy was just as worried about Jake as Ella was. He couldn't imagine how it must feel to be a prisoner inside your own body._

"_I won't be gone long."_

"_Fifteen years is a long time. What if I'm married by then? Who's gonna walk me down the aisle?"_

"_If I didn't think Jake would tear apart any boy who looked at you that way, I would say he could."_

Ella had walked by herself down the aisle, having to endure Jim and Jenna's disapproving looks. She'd tried to ignore them and focus on what she thought was her true love, her escape. Who turned out to be her nightmare.

"_Nga yawne lu oer 'eveng."_

"_What's that mean?"_

"_Means I love you, kiddo. Even when I'm not physically here, I'm always right here." He took the moment to poke her in the chest. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist._

"_Nay-ga yaw-nee lu…oer…whatever. I love you, Tom-Tom."_

"_Love you Elle-Belle."_

_Tommy played the parent role well. Made sure she studied, had enough to eat, got to be on time, got to school on time, was clean, was happy…_

"_Ella…Ella…."_

"Ella!"

Her head snapped up. The sky had become darker. Jim was jogging down the street. Ella's brow crinkled, praying that her friend was sober enough to be running. The worst person imaginable when drunk was Roy. Jake came in a close second, and Jim nearly tied with her brother.

She stood, preparing to defend her case. Insist that she wasn't going to change her mind, that she had to-needed to- find out what had happened to Jake.

Jim suddenly stopped, staring over Ella's shoulder. Ella turned, and felt her heart stop.

The next few seconds happened so quickly Ella's brain had barely registered. Jim grabbed her wrist and began running down the street as the ground seemed to shift out from under them. Ella only had her bag with her precious personal items strapped to her back- it swung from side to side as they ran.

Ella never felt her feet touch the ground. She'd never run this fast in her life. All around her, the stable building that were assumed to never be struck down were falling. People were running across the street screaming. Some had dropped to their knees and prayed. A horribly deafening groaning sound drowned out the emergency sirens. Crashes and screaming was all she could hear. She saw the electric train fly off of its tracks and hit the building above she and Jim. She wanted to stop and stare. Fascinated and horrified.

"NO! NO! KEEP RUNNING DAMMIT!" Her eyes found Jim's and she continued running. Ella let out a cry of pain as a large rock hit her shoulder, having fallen from the building that was now collapsing to the ground. She struggled to get up. Jim grabbed her, growling in pain when he was also struck on the back with falling debris. He pulled her to her feet, only to be knocked down again.

"Tommy," she suddenly sobbed. The crashing drowned out her voice, so she screamed louder. "Tommy, TOMMY!"

"_Tommy!" the crashing caused her to yank her covers up again as light filled the room for the brief few seconds. Her door opened and he brother skittered into the room._

"_Ella? What happened? Are you okay? Are you-" he suddenly stopped, glancing out the window. "Oh…"_

"_What is that?" she sobbed. "What is it, Tommy?"_

"_That's a thunderstorm, Ell. They don't happen often anymore, not with the environment. Not down here." He sat on the edge of her bed. "I promise, it won't hurt you."_

_She continued trembling. He laid down next to her. "C'mon Ell. There's nothing to be scared of. I'm right here."_

_Brown eyes peeked over the sheets at him. "You promise you'll stay?"_

"_I promise."_

_Ella curled up against her brother, at ease once more._

"_I love you, Tommy."_

"_I love you, Ella…"_

_She would wake up again, many months later, after the phone call that would change their lives forever. She was sobbing loudly through her nightmare. Tommy couldn't believe she hadn't woken herself up already._

"_It's okay, Elle-Belle. Jake's fine, he'll be right there in the hospital tomorrow when we visit him. Wake up, it's just a nightmare. I'm right here, Ella…wake up…"_

"Ella? Wake up! ELLA!"

Her eyes snapped open. Debris was still falling, the sky seemed to be turning even darker, and the ground was rumbling worse than ever. She grabbed Jim's outstretched hand and together again they raced away from the growing fault in the Earth. Earth was dying. Humanity had killed it. And now they were paying the price.

A muffled announcement that escape pods were now being distributed. Jim ignored the signs and continued racing toward his apartment with Ella in tow. To her shock, she saw a medium-sized space shuttle sitting where his apartment once stood. Never once saying a word, they raced toward it, dodging the debris that was once Jim and Jenna's homely apartment. The door slid open so suddenly that Ella almost tried to stop Jim from throwing her in.

Ella obeyed the unspoken order and strapped herself into the seat. Her face was caked with dirt and tears. Her chest was on fire. She could compare her lung capacity to the atmosphere. The amount of toxins and dust that she must have breathed in disgusted her.

She closed her eyes and held her precious memories to her chest, letting her conscience once again slide away.

She awoke to somebody touching her face and wiping away the grime gently. She opened one eye, smiling when she realized that it was exactly who she thought it would be. Jenna was gently stroking a wet cloth across her face. She stuck her parched tongue out slightly. Jenna smiled, giving Ella notice of the dried tearstains on her cheeks. Wordlessly, she handed Ella a bottle of water. The young girl accepted gratefully.

"So this is Jimmy's secret project?" She rasped. Jenna nodded solemnly. "We knew that this was going to happen sooner that later. This is his baby, Echo."

"Like your Mom?" Jenna smiled and nodded. "He started work on it right after she died. She told him it was going to happen. Get some sleep; I have to man the radio."

Jenna stood and floated toward the front of the ship. Noticing her water floating in front of her, Ella unstrapped herself and allowed herself to fly upward. She giggled. Just as she'd always dreamed.

Moving toward the window, she realized that she could no longer see Earth. Was it swallowed up completely?

"Guys, I'm getting a signal from someone." Jenna frowned, twisting the dials on the old-fashioned radio. "This is Echo One, please identify yourself and tell us your position. Are you a refugee?"

There was no response at first. Ella frowned and took the mic. "Hey, she asked a question. Who are you and what the hell do you want?"

A muffled voice rumbled out from the speaker.

"Hey there, Sully. You still in?"

Ella would know that sly tone anywhere.


	6. Chapter 5: The Journey Begins

**Sooo….if anybody didn't understand, that last chapter was kind of the apocalypse. I was inspired to do that after the whole "Rapture" incident the weekend I started writing this.**

**chawk1993: Thanks! Yeah, I mean, Tom was her best friend, her confidant, her protector- he was the one to take care of her since their parents died so early. I mean, Jake would've done that too without blinking but he was always on duty. They had a great relationship; she was learning to grow up and he had to play big brother and parent, so of course she'd remember him as he was. :)**

**Guys, I PROMISE they're gonna get to Pandora sooner than later. Next chapter probably. I was going to have this whole "thing" during the five years aboard ship; Ella originally wasn't supposed to know shit about Pandora, the language or anything- she wasn't even supposed to have an Avatar, but then the plot would have been…nonexistent, so she would have spend the 6 years on ship studying the language and culture and spending plenty of time with Porter for a battleplan…do I hear goo-goo noises? Sorry, that's not happening.**

**I'm introducing several new characters that tie beautifully with the story along with some of my OC's.**

**Thanks for sticking with this!**

"_Ella, who is this?"_

"_Jim…he's the guy who's taking me to find my brother."_

"Hold on tight, they're taking us in." Ella flinched when she heard Jim's hard tone. After a long talk with the two of them, interjected with brief sobbing from Jenna, Ella had won him over. "_THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE WE CAN GO, JIM._"

Jim was constantly muttering under his breath about his "sense of foreboding" and Porter's "ominous tone" while steering the ship into the range of Porter's space station. Jenna was fiddling with her long auburn locks and biting her lower lip. Ella shuffled her feet, coughing slightly. Jim just sat there, gripping the steering controls so tightly his knuckles were white.

Jim's small shuttle was taken into the space station carefully. After the tractor beam was disengaged, they unstrapped themselves and cautiously exited the ship.

"Welcome," Porter said. The fact that they had just barely escaped chaos seemed minor to him. "This is where you will be residing as we make our way to Pandora." He began walking down a white hallway, Ella following him in order to keep up and listen; Jenna hesitantly, glancing behind for her brother as Jim observed the ship sadly, wary of leaving it in the hands of complete strangers. Meanwhile, Porter was explaining the ship's capabilities to Ella.

"The last shuttle that returned from Pandora had a six-year journey. However, with the advancements in technology that have been made since it first left twelve years earlier, we can make it there in three years at the latest. You'll be in cryo the whole time, obviously-"

"Where are you taking me?" Ella said suddenly, glancing over her shoulder for Jim and Jenna. They were walking quickly to keep up with Porter's fast pace.

"We need to get a DNA sample so we can start growing your Avatar- the others have already started. Some are nearly fully grown. But it'll be ready by the time we reach Pandora."

Ella felt her throat tighten at the idea of seeing trees- real trees- and vegetation. The prospect was nearly unreal to her. Jenna's eyes were wide- Ella could tell that she was just imagining the world. Jim was still shooting dirty glances at Porter, who suddenly turned to him.

"Weren't you one of the students at the Academy?" Jim nodded. "Six years of Avatar training."

"Well, we've made some changes to the Avatars. Would you like to see the improvements we've made, Mister…?" he raised an eyebrow at Jim.

"Orville. Jim Orville. And this is my sister, Jenna." He gestured to Jenna. Porter nodded, clearly not caring and turning away. Jim scowled at him and Ella rolled her eyes, grabbing his elbow and pulling him along.

At the end of the hallway, Porter set his hand on a flat screen. His entrance was approved and the doors slid open. Porter gestured them in and the group stopped, taking in the room.

There were tanks with blue creatures in them spread out across the room. Ella stared, not believing her eyes. They were Avatars- the program that Jake had been involved in was continuing.

_So the various people in the room must be drivers. _She studied each person intently.

A short, doe-eyed scientist with her arms crossed, frowning slightly as she observed a dark-skinned girl staring curiously into a tank. Next to the scientist was a taller girl wearing a dress under her lab coat, standing as though waiting for orders to be given. A bored-looking girl stood in the corner, cracking gum, while a boy-who, judging by their facial similarities, must have been her brother- stood next to her, looking equally as bored. A young woman was twisting a scarf around her finger while she read a journal. A dark haired girl was just walking around, throwing careless glances at the tanks. Ella's attention was drawn to the corner where Jenna was looking sadly- a young man was sitting in a chair, his leg bouncing up and down uncontrollably.

Ella was surprised at how young these people were. They had to be about her age- weren't scientists or Avatar drivers supposed to be much older, with more experience?

Porter bent over one of the tanks and observed the creature inside. "Yes, he's coming in nicely. Congratulations, Daegan!" The youth with the dark brown hair didn't acknowledge him. His leg continued bouncing. Ella noticed that he was chewing on his finger.

Shaken up from his last moments on Earth, she thought sadly.

Ella looked into the tank. To her shock, she realized that it was an Avatar-but its resemblance to an actual Na'vi was unmistakable. It now had only three fingers, its body was more slender like a Na'vi, and its hairline appeared to be further back on the crown of its head, like a Na'vi. The feline features were even more prominent. Daegan's avatar yawned- Ella caught a glimpse of tiny fangs in its mouth.

"Dr. Vixen!" the doe-eyed scientist turned to a woman in scrubs whose hands were covered with blood. "We need you! Brandon's-" she cut herself off and lowered her voice when Daegan jumped up at the sound of the other boy's name "-fading from blood loss, fast!" the woman left the room faster than one could blink. The dark haired youth followed both doctors out the door. Porter watched them briefly then turned back, studying each Avatar. Against her better judgment, Ella walked out the door she'd come in.

She saw Daegan's torn-up tennis shoe disappearing into another room and followed him in. She saw him standing against a white wall with a large window that lead into an observatory. She slowly walked up behind him and stood next to him, staring into the room.

There was another youth on the bed- he must be Brandon. Ella caught glimpses of his face when the doctors would move in and out of the way- his youthful face was contorted in pain. Ella felt her stomach flip when she saw the amount of blood on the sheets.

"Never seen that before?" a hoarse voice said. Ella looked to her left. Daegan was still staring into the room, not looking at her. She swallowed. "My- my brother was a Marine, but I was nine the last time I ever saw him remotely close to action. His buddies had pretty gruesome- uhh, injuries, but I was never really allowed to see-"

"Same here." He said quietly. "My dad, I mean." He nodded toward the room. "Our dad."

So Brandon was Daegan's brother. Ella looked back at Brandon. He was laying his head back on the blood-soaked pillow, apparently slipping out of consciousness. Daegan shifted. "He got hurt while getting to the ship. Fucking pole got him in the side. I had to take it out myself. I don't know what Dad would've done…he was down there. He's seen it all."

"Then you should know how amazing the human spirit can be when it fights." Daegan finally turned and looked at her. "My brother lost his legs, but he never stopped fighting. He told himself that he could pass any test a man could pass."

Daegan swallowed and looked back into the room. "My little brother's all I have left," he said quietly. Ella cautiously put her hand on his shoulder, not wanting to upset the boy. "Then pray that you won't lose him."

Daegan leaned his head against the cool glass and closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths. They just stood in silence. Ella saw something move out of the corner of her eye and turned to the door. The group from the room was standing cautiously at the door, as though unsure of coming in.

"Daegan?" the boy looked up to see another young doctor- the youngest she'd seen thus far-exiting the chamber. A friendly smile was fixated on his face as he approached the two. "Brandon's going to be fine. You can see him soon."

Daegan sighed in relief, his shoulders dropping as though a huge weight had been lifted off his thin shoulders. Ella smiled at him, then turned and exited the room. The girls standing at the door moved aside cautiously as Ella stepped through the door.

The bored-looking girl with the pixie cut looked Ella up and down. She was standing near the back of the group with her brother, still cracking that damn gum. "I've never seen you at training."

"She's probably a scientist," the bold-looking girl with the long dark hair standing at the front of the group shot over her shoulder. She stepped forward and held out a gloved hand. "I'm Rayne. And you are?"

"Ella Sully." Ella shoved her hands into her pockets, not wanting to converse with these youngsters. They looked barely out of their teens. Pixie Cut and her brother walked past Ella, not saying a word. Rayne rolled her eyes. "Pixie Bitch is officially called Vendetta Blake, and her brother Cyrus, but we call him Silencio because he never speaks. Alex may take offense to that though," she said, jerking her head to the girl with the scarf who was glaring. "What? Embrace your life as it is! So you can't speak- you have cool scarves!" Alex huffed and walked back to the room with the Avatars. The two girls standing next to Rayne gave her exasperated looks. "What? You haven't figured out how blunt I am after all the training we've been through together?"

"Sometimes you go a little far, Ray." the dark skinned girl stepped forward, twisting her red-tipped hair around her finger. "I'm Tiara Smith-"

"-I call her Red-" Rayne once again interjected.

"-and this is Katherine." she gestured to the scientist in the dress who waved shyly. "The girl that Rayne likes to pick on is Alexandrea Vupont."

Ella nodded slowly. "Ohh-kay." She looked around for an escape. "Aren't I supposed to get DNA taken somewhere?"

"Yes you are." Ella barely flinched when she heard Porter's voice behind her. She turned and saw him standing less than a foot away from her, an ever-scowling Jim and a timid Jenna behind him.

"Do you ever like, say hello? Or are you programmed to pop up behind people when they least expect it?" Rayne really was obnoxious. Ella made a mental note to stay away from her in the future. Porter ignored Rayne's blatantly disrespectful tone and tilted his head toward the room across from the room where Brandon was getting treated. Ella half-shrugged to the teenagers and followed Porter into the room.

While getting her blood sample drawn, Ella watched Jim pace around with a stony look on his face. She turned and looked into the room across the hall. Daegan was sitting on Brandon's bed- Ella couldn't see the latter's face- talking quietly. He gripped his brother's hand. He laughed suddenly, and swiped at his eyes.

She couldn't help but think of the hundreds of times her brothers had stayed up late into the night talking as those two were now.

Ella would never get used to the feeling of gravity disappearing. They were back in the anti-gravity section of the space station. She heard giggling and looked over her shoulder to see Rayne pushing off from the wall and pretending to be a superhero flying through space. Ella rolled her eyes and floated over to her respective cryo bunk. Rayne floated above her. "Shalom, bunkmate!"

Ella groaned. _Thank God I'll be unconscious. That way I won't end up killing her._

"I know what your problem is," Rayne said to Ella as the same young doctor who had treated Brandon placed the cryo patch on her forearm.

"Really?" Ella said sarcastically. "Enlighten me, please, since you know so much about me."

"You've forgotten how to have fun and be a kid. Nobody likes a negative Nelly."

"Negative Nelly? I have never heard anything so juvenile coming out of an adult's mouth. Or are you fourteen?" Vendetta happened to be floating by, searching for her respective bunk. She didn't respond to Ella's grateful glance.

"I'm twenty-one, thanks. Finished college three years ago."

"Who the _hell_ let you out?"

As they continued bickering, the doctor instructed Ella to lay back and relax. She bit her lip slightly as he inserted the tube into her arm. "This will provide you your nutrients. This-" he pointed to the patch "-will keep your asleep for the next few years-"

"I've read all about cryo." He smiled. "I figured. A doctor, huh?"

"Ella Sully."

"My name's Logan. Never got to meet your brother, I was pretty young when…" his voice trailed off. "Uhh…I-I had a professor who _ranted_ and _raved_ about the great kid genius Tom Sully." His pitched changed to imitate the old man. "'_I_ _vas so lucky to haff heem as a studant_…'" Ella chuckled.

Rayne then chose that moment to turn back to Ella. "Anyway, back to you. Lighten up, okay?" Having enough, Ella hoisted herself up and looked Rayne dead in the eye.

"Look, I don't see a lot of your type, which is good news for me. Incase you haven't noticed, Earth is dead. We are practically stranded in the middle of nowhere. There area few lucky survivors who made it out alive- I wouldn't be surprised if _ninety percent_ of the human population is wiped out. Now why am I so bitter? It's because I am acknowledging that shit happens, kid. And there's nothing we can do about it. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have this-this _great_ imagination that maybe my brother, whom I haven't seen in twelve years may JUST be alive on an alien planet that HATES humans. I don't need to loosen up. YOU need to grow up. I never GOT to be a kid. My parents and other brother are dead and the only family member that may not be alive is what's keeping me going. So before I kill you to keep my sanity on this trip, SHUT YOUR HOLE."

Ella threw herself back violently and nodded to Logan, who looked at her sympathetically and wished her a nice rest. He slid her bed into the cryo chamber. When the door closed, her exhausted body seemed to sag under pressure and her head lolled back as her mind began to shut down. The last thing she heard before immediately falling asleep was Rayne's distant snicker. "_Shut your hole_…"

**The Crew:**

**Dr. Vixen – my friend Vixen's Shadow**

**Vendetta Blake- ****TMNTxMadness**

**Cyrus Blake- my OC**

**Tiara Smith - ****Rockubyebaby**

**Alexandrea Vupont - ****Apollyon214**

**Rayne- my OC (not the same Rayne from my WotW fanfic- I mean she could be, she's got the same attitude…but she was from 2005 :) )**

**Daegan- my OC**

**Brandon- my OC**

**Katherine - ****Cheertastic978**

**Logan- my OC**

**I had 2 other people who are Na'vi, I will introduce you when the time comes :)**

**I've decided that I'm going to do a story/character analysis when this is completed. To explain the things I'm going to do. Til next time y'all!**

**Remember, my Twitter and Tumblr are good ways to get into contact with me as well, I post updates and thoughts there too :)**

**-V**


	7. Chapter 6: Troubling Thoughts

**PLEAES READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE. ALL OF IT. Especially the FYI and the really long paragraph. It's important, I promise.**

**Okay kids, storytime! I saw Harry Potter at midnight and I loved it SO MUCH that I thought about re-writing my Harry Potter story. I posted a prologue on here but nobody appeared to see it. I also saw Inception while I was on vacation- I was so intrigued that now I'm rafting a fanfiction for that. So if you're interested in seeing any of that, please let me know!**

**FYI: Guys- **_**please**_** give me feedback on the OC's. Let me know if I'm portraying them well or not. I feel like I'm only going all-out with my personal OC's- Rayne, for example, is prominently a douche, seeing that she is disrespectful to everyone- she was pretty rude to Alex, who is unable to speak. I enjoy working with character development, so I will see how this is going to work out. **

**I have to give a shout-out to chawk1993, who always points out my mistakes. Thanks so much dude. My mistake this time? For some reason, I neglected to consider a thumb to be a finger. I claimed that Na'vi have 3 fingers and a thumb (which remained unmentioned) rather than just four fingers. I hate how my mind works sometimes. That is truly what happened. So, thank you once again.**

**Thanks again to everyone who volunteered to be apart of this team. It truly ties wonderful subplots into the story.**

**I know I said that they would arrive on Pandora in this chapter because I was not going to have Ella skip cryo to study the culture. However, some people do have to learn. I wanted some narrative chapters because I want you guys to have a grasp of what's going on. For example: has anybody seen SALT? I watched the director's cut with my friends one night after I'd already seen it in theaters. At the part where I knew "Oh, she's going to kill Orlov and her Russian homies from her awful childhood." Firstly I'd noticed that they changed the way they killed her husband; they made her watch while they drowned him instead of shooting him. Then she never kills them. I was jumping up and down and screaming "WHAT? WHAT? WHAT SICK GAME IS THIS? SO SHE STAYS AN EVIL TERRORIST FOR THE ENTIRE FILM?" Eventually we switched back to the regular film and we never finished the director's cut. Anybody who **_**has**_** seen the director's cut, correct me if I'm wrong; I'm assuming that in the end, when she's being interrogated by the…well, interrogator, they're going to show the same thing that they showed in the original cut; the CIA interrogator getting a text that says "Salt's fingerprints found at Orlov's barge. Everyone dead." Even though it didn't show her killing everyone like the original cut did, we'll know she did it because of all her Jesus-like behavior during the end of the film. And the part where it's revealed that she didn't really kill the Russian President and all that jazz. But what sucks about that is, the entire damn movie you'd be confused. "Is she evil? Why did she kill her Liev if she's evil? Isn't he a sleeper agent too? WHAT'S GOING ON?"**

**That's kind of what I want to avoid. You're going to get into the following minds: Porter, Daegan, Logan, and my pal Dr. Vixen.**

**Enjoy!**

_8 months_

Nicholas Porter was not born a hateful person. In his childhood, he'd been known as the sweet boy of the family. He'd had the biggest heart and been the most intelligent of his siblings. He's learned to read and write at an extraordinarily early age. He was learning calculus when normal children were learning how to multiply and divide, and he'd developed an obsession with astrology that followed him to his teenaged years. His grandfather had been on the pioneer journey to the new galaxy; his father had spent Nicholas' early teenage years on Pandora with the military as head of security and a part-time Avatar Driver. He'd died on the return trip; not everybody was equipped for space travel after the number of times his father had been in his Avatar body for long periods of time. He'd been old, and it had taken out a lot in him. His mother had died in the plague around the same time.

After losing his brother and sister to the war- his brother, a reckless Marine and his sister, an overly-brave journalist- he'd changed from sweet Nicholas Porter, future astronaut to stone-cold Nicholas Porter, the scientist bent on turning the world around so that nobody else would suffer what he had. Then, when he was eighteen, his mother's step-brother, Miles Quartich, had messaged him with the promise that he, Nicholas would take his father's place after finishing Avatar training.

That, of course, had been nearly eight years ago. As soon as the ISV Venture Star returned from Pandora with the entire military and the news of the deaths and those who had opted to remain on Pandora, all Nicholas could feel was hurt and betrayal. Who were these people to go against their troops, their world, their _species_? He'd then found out who was behind it all.

The bastard ex-Marine, Jake Sully.

The stone-cold attitude that Nicholas had received from the heartache of losing his entire family drive Nicholas to what he did best: revenge.

The plan was simple. They infiltrate the Na'vi in their new home, start another war, and when they call other tribes, they will all be exterminated. All at once, the Na'vi will gather to take down the human species, and the bomb will be dropped.

Dr. Kaul and his team had been working on the bomb that would kill the savages, but spare the vegetation. Not easy, but not impossible, he'd said. But they needed a way in.

That was where the girl came in.

Ella Sully. What a stupid girl. Wouldn't she know that even if the other scientists had been taken hostage by the Na'vi, they would have died anyway? The air on Pandora was not breathable to humans. Nicholas rolled his eyes when he thought of the girl. Her eyes had been so full of fear for her brother. He'd been anticipating her to say no to the whole operation; that she would have moved on after all those years. But no. Loyalty between blood was stronger than anything. The Sully boy would know that; once she revealed herself, they had to agree. It _had_ to work. He breathed out hard through his nose, shaking his head.

"Sir?" Nicholas snapped out of his thoughts and turned to the boy beside him. Daegan. Nicholas saw himself in the boy. Or, what he'd used to be. He'd seen Daegan when he heard that his brother may die. They were both last-minute additions to the escape pod for the scientists. Daegan had held Brandon's thin body in his arms as the boy bled profusely from the side, crying for help.

"_Ke'u _Daegan_. kä ne_." he nodded toward the language book that Daegan was holding. The boy sighed in frustration; it couldn't be clearer that he didn't like taking orders from someone barely older than himself.

* * *

>"<em>Srane<em>, sir."

* * *

><p><p>

* * *

>-<p><p>

Daegan wasn't an idiot. He wasn't as smart the scientists on this voyage- hell, sometimes he considered Brandon smarter than him. He knew why this journey was taking place. His father had returned from the original journey a changed man. He'd refused to wipe out an entire race of innocent creatures and been arrested by the commander-in-chief.

Daegan's heart had been swollen with pride when his father had told his story. Brandon had been the one to ask whether or not they should continue with their training. Their father had shrugged. "Maybe one day, they will turn around and realize that what they're doing is foolish. You'll be able to go soon, my boys."

He knew better. Humanity would never right itself.

Daegan wasn't stupid. He knew that somehow the plan that the Na'vi cannot know about their true species would fail. They weren't experienced enough. And even though he'd just met Ella, he could tell that she would be a delicacy in the mission. He had identified the look in her eyes when she saw the Avatars; and he knew her story. She wasn't selfish. She was only in it for her brother.

They were alike. Daegan knew this mission wouldn't be easy, especially since he had to watch over Brandon. They had nobody now. They were on a mission to help save the planet. He'd never seen himself to be the hero, no matter how many times Brandon had told him that he was a hero. He'd never wanted to be. He just wanted to help others, and now he had the opportunity.

Yet, he felt, their time had come too soon.

_2 years, 7 months._

Dr. Vixen had seen a lot in her relatively short life. She was barely older than the woman who was silently working with the computers, Jenna Orville. She recognized her from her years at the Aeronautic Building. They'd never had the chance to talk; she wasn't the one who made trips to the receptionist' office. She made the orders for the visits.

She'd been on this very ship when the Earth began to fall apart. She hadn't expected it so soon; who had? Nobody had anticipated the end of the world to occur so quickly.

Had she expected it to happen at all? Yes. She'd spent the majority of her youth protesting the government's treatment of the planet; didn't they realize that this was a delicate planet? Hadn't they all been taught when they were young that Mother Earth would one day lash back after poor treatment by her people? Eventually, she came back to Earth and settled for employment with the Resources Development Administration as an attempt to do some good for the planet-and learned to keep her mouth shut along the way. The RDA bosses didn't like it when anybody disagreed with their procedures. Dr. Vixen became unsettled when the RDA began mining resources from the planet Pandora.

She could almost hear her long-gone grandmother's voice in her head; _"Of course, they've trashed this planet so they're moving on to the next planet…and the next after that…"_

Still, she stayed silent. She knew that she should be relatively pleased with visiting Pandora. She'd been studying it for years, but when the ISV Venture Star had returned with half its crew missing and the news that they were "no long allowed in that sector of the galaxy," she became suspicious. The remaining crew was completely mum about what had happened. All she knew was that they were returning to Pandora and Porter had some chickenshit plan that involved tricking the Na'vi into letting them use the land again.

She shook her head, as though trying to rid herself of an irksome fly. Was Porter naive? This plan would never work. The Na'vi are much too clever to be deceived. They would not want to share the planet with the human race and be cheated on a second time. Dragging the Sully girl into this mess was a mistake. She was much too fragile. Dr. V could see right through her. Ella Sully wore a mask; she hid behind a wall that she'd built up after she, like many others in the world, had lost her family. Though she looked professional, she was only here because she clung onto he hope that her brother was still alive.

Dr. V shook her head. To be young and hopeful again, she though sadly.

_The day before_

Logan stared onto the tank in amazement. He'd never imagined how far science could take them in this department. The Avatars were fully grown.

He bent over the tank labeled 859. He knew this was Vendetta Blake's avatar. He chuckled at the sour look etched upon her face- it certainly was her.

Cyrus Blake would also be playing the role of the brother to the avatar he'd just observed. They looked too similar to just be two Na'vi's in a village.

"I can't help but wonder what Porter's going to do once they get down there," Katherine said over lunch that day. Their conversations would remain hushed to keep the other scientists from suspecting them.

"I don't know," Logan said coolly. "I suppose that Porter is going to work around how a group of Na'vi who were untrained in their ways were wandering around the forest."

Jenna chuckled. "They'll be accepted into the clan for sure, they will." Jenna has become more comfortable over the months, studying with the younger two while her brother and adopted sister were in cryo. "I barely know anything about what's going on, but from what I understand, we're on a suicide mission."

"I'm pretty sure that we're meant to be in the dark," Katherine said quietly.

Logan shook his head as Daegan entered the lunchroom, headed straight toward them. The boy had been spending countless hours with Porter; who knew what they told each other. They couldn't be held accountable for treason.

"The conversation doesn't need to end, especially if it's about weirdo Porter. Man, he gives me the creeps." he bit into his sandwich and met the gaze of the scientists. "Daegan Mitchell."

"Katherine Simmons."

"Jenna Orville."

"Logan Smith."

Daegan swallowed. "So we're gossiping about our oh-so-wise mission commander?"

"We just think his plan is a little..."

"Juvenile?" they all nodded. "I kept dropping hints every chance I get; I ask him why Ella Sully is here when she's had zero Avatar training-"

"Ella's brother was on the last trip," Jenna said quietly. They looked at her, interested in her story. "Porter told her that he may still be alive."

"Alive where?" Logan said. "He wouldn't be able to survive unless he's in his Avatar body, which should remain under authorized surveillance. He'd need a nutrition patch good for fifteen years-"

"Unless Porter lied," Katherine cut in. "He could have easily been lying."

"Nobody could know if he's alive or not," Logan rationalized.

"Nobody but Porter," Daegan said. "My father was on the last voyage- Porter had a family member who was also on the last voyage. He must have demanded a full report about what happened there. And besides, I heard that a bunch of scientists were left on Pandora, including-"

Someone cleared their throat, causing the group to jump. Dr. Vixen was standing a few feet away from their table. Logan couldn't read her face- had she heard their conversation?

"You may want to come up front," she said. "We're approaching Pandora.

Logan stood and left the lunchroom, following Dr. Vixen with Katherine an Jenna right behind him.

They walked the long hallway to the front of the station after taking the elevator. They entered the cockpit, where Porter was standing with his back to them. "Ladies and gentleman," he said. "Pandora."

Jenna gasped as Logan turned. Katherine grabbed his arm. "Look!"

His heart suddenly jumped. He could see it- Pandora, the planet of the Na'vi, approaching the ship rapidly.

It was time to wake everyone up.


	8. Chapter 7: The Arrival

**I think this is a record. Here's a new chapter!**

**I just want to apologize- I can't figure out how to make a page break- I skip POV's quite often.**

The silence and blackness was overwhelming. Ella felt herself scrunch her eyebrows together and stretch her shoulders backwards, trying to get feeling back into her muscles. She wiggled around the tube in discomfort. The hatch suddenly slid open and she looked back, startled.

"Logan!" her voice hurt from not using it in so long. Logan seemed to have aged- barely, but he definitely looked three years older. He smiled. "Have a nice sleep?"

"Yeah," Ella said, still not used to using her raw throat. She glanced around. There were a number of hatches, but with only a few Avatar Drivers, several all over were being used.

Logan checked her vitals and pulled off the nutrition patch. "You're good to go. Go out that door-" he pointed. "-and you'll find some food waiting for you. If you feel nauseous, which you may or may not, due to the shorter journey, take this." He handed her a small bag. She chuckled and stretched. "Thanks, Logan."

"See you soon." He patted her shoulder and floated up so he could wake up Rayne. Not wanting to engage in conversation with her, Ella pushed off from the bed and opened her locker to pull out her satchel. She pushed off of it and allowed herself to fly toward the door that Logan had directed her to.

A hand reached out and grabbed her as she floated right by the door. Brown hair peeked around the corner and she smiled. "Daegan. Enjoy your sleep?"

The boy chuckled darkly. "What sleep? I've spent three damn years learning that stupid language. Feet first." She did as he instructed and felt herself fall to the ground as the gravity returned. "We're getting on a smaller shuttle than headed to Pandora."

Ella felt butterflies in her stomach. _I'm going to see Jake. No, don't think like that. He might be…no, don't think like that either!_

Trying to rid herself of any unpleasant thoughts, she moved back to the original topic. "So…did you know any of the language before you came up here?"

"I sucked at that part, so Porter made me review until we could hold this really complex conversation. Literally, last week I wasn't allowed to speak any English at all."

Ella chuckled. A tall, lanky figure not unlike Daegan stepped out of the hospital wing, hand on his side. Daegan clapped a hand on his shoulder and he turned around.

"Brandon, Doctor Ella Sully. Doctor Sully, this is my brother Brandon." Ella shook his hand, noting the similarities between the two. They had the same hazel eyes. Daegan's hair was shorter and darker, and he appeared to have more muscle than skinny Brandon, whose hair was slightly longer and lighter.

"Daegan, she wants to talk to you," Brandon said quietly after smiling politely at Ella. Daegan nodded and walked with his brother back to the hospital wing.

Ella proceeded to load a plate with food. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other drivers awakened and heading toward her. She jumped when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned to Jim and Jenna, smiling.

*  
>"Hello? Hello? Who is this?" Porter glared at the radio, clearly cursing the frequencies it sent out. Dr. Kaul glanced at him before turning back to the task at hand; he was working on disabling the signal it set out so that they wouldn't be discovered.<p>

Kaul had recognized he voice as Norm Spellman, his former student. He'd disappeared after the last shuttle to Pandora had left Earth fifteen years ago.

Kaul pushed out all thoughts of sympathy for the lad; he'd made his choice. He finally enabled the cloaking device and Spellman's voice was immediately cut off. With any luck, he'd just assume that his radio was starting to give in after sitting inactive for so long.

Ella thought her heart was going to burst out of her chest. She stared at what little she could see of the planet through the porthole. Her mind was racing. Without thinking, she grabbed Jim's hand and squeezed it tightly. He responded, whispering "Remember Ell- don't get your hopes up. This is a wild planet."

Throat dry, Ella nodded. The large group entered the loading dock, blinking at the brightness and vastness of the room. A smaller shuttle, not unlike the one that Jim had built to escape their dying planet, was opening its doors for the explorers. An even larger shuttle was being checked out by a group of mechanics.

Ella followed the group up the stairs, keeping a tight grip on her satchel that contained everything dear to her. A man in an army uniform began directing everyone to a seat, ordering them to strap in and be ready to use their breathing mask.

Ella sat in a seat near the front and fastened herself in. Jim sat next to her, and Jenna sat on her other side. Someone passed Ella, and she looked up. Daegan was leading a scowling Brandon over to a seat. He sat his brother down and sat himself next to Jenna. He made sure Brandon was secure before strapping himself in. Ella leaned across Jenna and tapped Daegan's shoulder as he was messing with the belt. His eyes met hers. "What, Sully?"

"What's wrong with Brandon?" Daegan glanced over his shoulder at his sullen brother and turned back to her. "Something went wrong while he was in cryo, and his side wound never healed properly. We can't allow him to drive his Avatar in his state." Ella frowned sympathetically. "Poor guy."

"Yeah. He's trained so hard for this."

The army man began shouting that the ship was taking off and they all sat straight up, waiting for it to move. Ella felt Jim and Jenna grab her hands and she leaned her head back, breathing steadily.

She felt someone's eyes on her and she pulled her head back to its original position. Sitting straight across from her, in between Alexandrea and Tiara was Rayne.

Ella raised an eyebrow at the girl. Rayne smiled. "I did some thinking after you yelled at me."

"And?"

Rayne shrugged. "Well, I didn't get a lot of thinking time between you bitching and going into cryo. So my only response is…cool it." She smiled, shrugging.

Ella stared at her. Rayne didn't blink. Ella set her jaw and shot back "I don't know how to respond to that, so I'm not going to."

"Yeah, you just did."

"Will you shut up?" Vendetta Blake snapped from across the ship. Rayne turned to her and Ella turned to Jim. "Do me a favor, please. Punch me and knock me out so that I don't have to listen to this."

"Or we could just open the airtight doors and let all of us implode," Daegan's voice muttered from her right.

"Or just throw her out."

The ship's power was turned on and the entire room seemed to take its breath in as they lifted off. Ella kept her eyes shut for several minutes until Jim tapped her shoulder.

"Look," he whispered. Ella opened her eyes and caught her breath. The windows showed the beauty that was Pandora. Her breathing began increasing as the smaller shuttle began to enter the atmosphere. She closed her eyes again, suddenly feeling sick. The whispers of excitement around her increased in volume with every passing second. She gripped Jim and Jenna's hands as she felt the ship get closer and closer to the ground. She jumped when she felt the ship touch the ground.

"Masks, people, masks! Unless you want to feel the merciful hands of death before we even get this show on the road, put 'em on now!"

"Ella? Come back, kid, we're here!"

Ella opened her eyes- people around her were putting on masks and talking excitedly. She grabbed the mask that Jim was handing to her and fastened it on her face. She unbuckled herself and grabbed her satchel. The group waited in anticipation for the doors to open.

"_Masks_, people! You too, Matthews! If you breathe this savage air, you'll be KO'ed in twenty seconds, and you'll be dead in four minutes!"

The request was obeyed; the entire group was shaking with excitement.

Finally, the ship's hatch slowly slid open. Brightness filled the dark ship as the beautiful moon of Pandora was revealed.

Ella's breath caught as she walked with the group onto solid ground. She stumbled a bit- she wasn't used to walking on solid ground without the buzz of anti-gravity holding her down.

Her heart was beating almost uncontrollably. She steadied herself by taking deep breaths and forcing herself to walk forward in a straight line. She grabbed Jim's shoulder for balance and comfort- she needed both.

It was just like she'd imagined. Everywhere she looked, there were trees- some small, some simply enormous- and vegetation that she'd only dreamed of when she read about it. The vibrant colors were almost overwhelming.

Sitting in front of them was the first ship they'd seen; the larger ship that had been on the space station. She overheard Porter's brief explanation; it was going to be their scientific base for the time being.

She felt a pulling at her soul- she needed to go explore these woods. Something- something was calling her.

"_Come on, Ella."_

"_Tom, where are we going?"_

"_You'll love it. It's the rainforest exhibit at the zoo- remember those books I showed you? Those trees used to be all over…"_

She was so caught up in observing the beauty of the planet that she hardly noticed how little she'd moved. She looked down and tried to move her feet, and stumbled, grabbing onto Jim. She glared at him, obviously annoyed that he could move fine. He chuckled and glanced to his left; Jenna was also having trouble moving.

"This was part of our training," he said. It seemed that Ella and Jenna were the only ones having trouble moving. She glanced at Logan, irritated.

"It's the density. You'll get used to it. You won't even feel it when you're in your Avatar."

Ella nodded and grabbed Jim's arm for balance; Jenna did the same to his other arm. Ella reached out with her other hand and grabbed Daegan's shoulder for support. "Sorry," she muttered. He made no acknowledgement that he'd heard her.

The group stopped, watching as the doors to the larger ship that was on the station open. Porter stepped forward.

"Ladies and gentlemen…welcome to Pandora."

The vibrant colors of the forest whipped around her as she and her brother ran through the trees, laughing, pretending that they were on their first ikran. When she became of age, she would out-fly her brother, her mother, maybe even her father; and Father was the best.

Teng tripped over a tree root and was airborne for a second until he face-planted into the wet marsh. La'he roared with laughter as she helped him up. "_Nga nìltsan, tsmukan_?" she giggled. He glanced up, blinking the muck from his eyes. His gaze was fixated on the sky.

"_Tsmuke, nìn_!" he cried out suddenly. La'he looked up, and saw what her brother was seeing- something falling from the sky.

What was it? An ikran? It was too far away to see.

A cry went through the forest as the two froze. Txon Paya was galloping toward them on a pa'li, beckoning to them. Her mate-to-be, Te'taun, was following her on his pa'li. The two approached their young aunt- she smiled sweetly at them.

"_Za'u, ayeveng_." They knew. It was getting late, and their parents were expecting them.

They looked at each other, understanding their silent agreement. La'he grabbed her aunt's hand and Teng was pulled onto the pa'li behind Te'taun. They galloped off toward Hometree.

Mother and Father didn't need to know.

_**Nga nìltsan, tsmukan?**_** – Are you well, brother?**

_**Tsmukan, nìn**_**! – Sister, look!**

_**Za'u ayeveng**_** – Come, children.**

**Whoot whoot! They made it! Thoughts? Comments? Send me a review!**


	9. Chapter 8: Luminescent Storms

**I would like to apologize for the delay in updates. This is why I try to not make deadlines for myself. My computer is broken and my maintenance guy is in jail (yes, you read correctly. Don't drink and drive, folks.) I am also still quite annoyed about something, so if you are easily offended (or you're the person I'm talking about) just look away. I mean, this IS the internet, so what I write here is always going to be here. I wouldn't be posting this is I wasn't so sure of what I was going to say. **

**So I got a review from somebody who was sick of this "we humans are so evil, we're killing Mother Earth" theme- or more specifically, "crap." This person stated that s/he is sick of the "tired out, ALWAYS overdone" theme, yet this person is continuing to look for Avatar stories. I hate to tell ya, but there are going to be very rare occasions that these stories are not anti-human. I've read sequel stories that have the same story: _Humans are so bad, we gonna tear this planet down_. I'm not going to make my story clear in the beginning; that would ruin it. So _please_ don't judge my story before I'm even halfway finished. There are SO MANY stories out there with an anti-human message. I, myself, am anti-degenerate. And when I mean degenerate, I mean people who have some sort of position in power that have NO IDEA what they are doing. If I want anybody to be president, here's who this person has to be. Pro-life, pro-rights, environmentally stable, economically intelligent. Just because you have a high IQ doesn't mean you know what you're doing in office. **

**I guess I need to make my point clearer. Therefore, I would like to reiterate my message: This movie was an environmental message to everyone that did have moments of demonizing the military. This is NOT an anti-human story. HOWEVER: Keep this in mind. There are bad people in this world. There are bad people who don't care about the evil they're doing. Selfish people. They exist. Thus: realism. The attitudes of the people in the film are real. But think- In this story, and the real world, perhaps the people that are supposedly evil are simply hurt. People have suffered greatly. Earth has gone through dark times. Nicholas Porter isn't in it because he's evil; he's been hurt and he wants revenge. He doesn't want the planet. I just want to make it clear that I, myself am not anti-human OR anti-progressive. Along with that, I am not trying to demonize the military. I am introducing military characters in this chapter and you'll see where I'm going with this. I am very supportive of our troops but I am not supportive of the war at all.**

**Now that my political rant is over:**

**For those of you who are shaking the computer screaming "PORTER HAS ULTERIOR MOTIVES, DUMBASS!" Ella's really freaking worried for Jake. If I was alone on a dying planet and I just found out that the last living member of my family is alive, I'd be busting my ass to find that person. She's so consumed by grief by the horrors she's had to go through.**

**In the following chapters, I'm going to start expanding on the backgrounds of the characters. Here you'll be introduced to two more OC's (am I wearing you out yet?) and we'll be learning more about one of my applicants. Along the way, you may spot some allusions toward other works and the movie itself.  
><strong>

**PS Until people start following me on Twitter or Tumblr, I'm going to post my thoughts on here. Seriously.**

All was quiet that first night on Pandora. Ella trembled slightly under the blanket she'd been provided with. Her small room felt like a prison cell- blank grey walls glared at her from all sides. Her own quiet breathing was the only noise she could hear; and she could barely hear it anyway. When given room assignments, Ella appeared to be the only one without a bunkmate; she appreciated it. She wouldn't know what she would have done if she'd gotten stuck with Rayne. Ella had spent her insomniatic hours imagining the fights that would have occurred if Rayne had gotten stuck with Vendetta.

"So did your parents mix you and Cy up? Or did you cut your hair that was yourself?"

"Silence is golden and duct tape is silver. If you don't shut your face you'll be tasting adhesive for a month."

"Good one, you near-sighted bitch." And so an argument would ensue over how Vendetta wasn't near-sighted and how that was an awful insult.

Vendetta was bunking with her brother; Jim and Jenna were together, as were Daegan and Brandon; Katherine was with her mentor, Dr. Vixen and Ella wasn't sure where Logan was. She tried to take her mind off of her friends by pressing her face into the pillow and curling up into a fetal position under the blanket. She closed her eyes, yearning for sleep to come.

On the other side of the ship, Dr. Kaul was typing away at a computer while Porter paced the cockpit. This was a crucial part of the mission. Sully needed to be reminded why she was here...and properly persuaded to carry out her part.

"Sir?" Porter turned to Dr. Kaul, who held out the video device to him. "Hacking successful, downloading complete-"

"I need to review first," Porter said. "There are certain parts that the girl doesn't need to see. As far as she knows, her brother was manipulated by the ways of the Na'vi. Jake's video files will be very helpful..."

Her wake up call came at 0700 hours. Almost struggling to get out from under the sheets that had somehow become twisted i the night, Ella threw her feet over the edge of the bed and jumped when they touched the ground.

One of her socks was missing. Ella couldn't fall asleep without socks. Had she really been thrashing around so much that her left sock had slid off? She stuck her hand in the pile of sheets and fished around until she closed her hand around the sock.

Holding it in her hand, flashes of the nightmare she'd had swirled around in her mind. A raging tornado of colors gave her only glimpses of various faces whom she'd known, loved and lost in her lifetime. Voices were shouting at her from all directions while she as her eight-year old self knelt down in the rain forest, crying out for the voices to stop.

She snaapped out of remembering the dreams when the freezing shower water had hit her. She was so consumed in her thoughts that she'd continued her morning routine without realizing it.

After washing and drying, she pulled on a long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans and shoved her feet into her only pair of shoes. She suddenly remembered something Porter had mentioned before leaving Earth. She dug around her small bag and fished out a camouflage shirt and a pair of cargo pants for her Avatar. She threw her messy hair into a ponytail and exited the room.

She turned to her left and stopped short.

Soldiers. Two young men in army uniforms were walking toward her. She looked at their faces and cringed; she knew the look all too well. It was the look that Jake had adopted after his accident. The stone-cold Marine look.

Ella's mind raced with questions. Why were they there? Was the entire military there? Hadn't Porter said that this was a peace mission?

The two men's steady gaits slowed as they neared Ella. They came to a complete stop in front of her. A brief silence penetrated the air like tear gas, until the taller of the two raised his thick eyebrow. "I know I'm handsome, but it's not polite to stare."

Ella blinked and looked away, quickly closing he door to her room. She saw the Latino's eyes dart to her door and back to her face. Did he think she was hiding something?

The taller of the two stuck out his hand. "I'm Trevor. Private First Class," he said with a self-satisfied smirk. Ella took his hand and shook it, not feeling all too comfortable with his stare.

The Latino held out his hand. "Luis Chacon. My sister flew for the last mission out here."

"Ella Sully." she responded, taking his large hand and shaking it. "You aren't the first who's had family out here before you. My brother-"

His gaze darkened. "I'm aware. My sister was shot down by the Na'vi during the uprising."

Ella's heart went out to him. He knew who she was. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I really am," she said softly. He didn't look away. "I guess I shouldn't blame you for your brother's mistakes."

"He's not right in the head," Ella insisted. "Jake was- is- a good person. I of all people would know."

Luis nodded, his eyes finally leaving hers as he glanced at Trevor, who was clearing his throat. "Breakfast?"

"Is this what high school is like?" Ella asked Jim quietly. Her fading memories of her one year of high school were slowly fading, being replaced by her years of home schooling. He shrugged. "Lunch tables aren't always as diverse. People who had similar interests usually stuck together."

Ella glanced around the table. Trevor and Luis had joined the small group at the table. They got on well with Daegan, who stayed close to his brother. That group of boys were the center of attention at the table, laughing and telling jokes without a care in the world. Except for ever-mute Brandon. From what Ella knew, he hadn't said a word since landing on the planet. Rayne was sitting casually next to Brandon, listening to Tiara and Katherine's conversation, cockily raising her eyebrows occasionally. Logan sat on Katherine's other side, watching the boys with a wary eye. Alexandrea was on Logan's other side, across from Jenna. Jim was on Ella's other side.

"Why don't you talk?" she suddenly asked Alex. The girl slowly looked up, as though amazed Ella had spoken to her. Tiara had also fallen silent, glancing back and forth from the two. Alexandrea, who seemed deep in thought, and Ella, who was staring at her closely.

Alexandrea sighed and looked at Tiara, who seemed to understand. "Want me to tell her?"

Alexandrea nodded. She stood up and left. Ella's questioning glance followed her. Tiara noticed this. "She doesn't like thinking about it."

"About?"

Tiara sighed and shifted in her seat. "Alex and I graduated together. We always wondered why she couldn't speak, so I asked one day. She got into a car accident when she was very young. I think some sort of metal got stuck into her and she hasn't been able to speak since."

Ella's mouth fell open. Jenna let out a breath. "That's awful," she said softly.

Tiara nodded. "Yeah. Her scarf? It covers up the scar."

Ella swallowed and looked down. Now that she thought about it, there were many times that Alexandrea had wanted to speak up, but couldn't. A sad and frustrated look would cross her face and her eyes would cast downward. Just like Jake's would when he got angry because he couldn't do something on his own.

"_Jake, let me do that for you."_

"_Ella, I can do it myself, damn it!"_

"_Jake! Come on, man, go easy on her. She only wanted too help..."_

"Doctor Sully." Ella looked up from her half-eaten plate of eggs at Dr. Vixen. "Mr. Porter wants to see you."

Ella bid goodbye to her acquainted and left with the woman. They walked down the hallway, not speaking to one another, and entered the room where Porter was. As Dr. Vixen exited, he turned to Ella, an uncharacteristic smile on his young face. "Ella. Please sit," he said smoothly. Ella did so, and he lifted up a 21st century iPad. Ella lifted her eyebrows- that thing was ridiculously old.

"I found these video files in the Venture Star's archives, and I thought you'd like to have them," he said, smiling. Ella took the iPad. Porter leaned over her, his warm body uncomfortably close to hers, and pressed the play button. She gasped when her brother's face filled the screen. He looked exactly the same as he did when she'd last seen him.

"So...here I am. Doing science." he was glancing around the camera, obviously not used to this. She wanted to laugh.

Porter reached over her and pressed for another recording. Jake's face filled the screen again, but he was somewhere else- the silhouette of a woman over a microscope was in the background while a woman in cargo pants was walking around eating something while talking to somebody off camera. Jake seemed to be less alert than he was in the precious video. He had some scruff on his chin and his eyes seemed sunken, like he hadn't been sleeping. He was biting his lip, trying to figure or what to say next, while the chaos in the background continued.

"Why don't you talk about adjusting to this environment?" the woman in the background said. Jake's expression quickly changed from thoughtful to annoyed. "Excuse me?" he said, not caring about what the woman wanted.

"Your family? They might see this one day, you know." Ella's heart skipped a beat as Jake's annoyed expression melted away. Sadness and remorse filled his face. Ella felt the pinpricks in her eyes. Was he thinking of her?

"Isn't there anybody back home that you miss? You can-"

"What is this, therapy?" Jake snapped at the woman, turning around in his chair. The woman looked over at him with disdain. Ella gasped when her face came into view- it was Grace Augustine. "I really don't need to talk about that right now. Isn't this a mission? Aren't I supposed to be archiving a scientific experiment?"

Ella couldn't help but smile. "That's my brother Jake," she said quietly, feeling affection spread through her heart. A warmth she hadn't felt for years. Porter nodded. "They're yours now." he stood up and Ella relished the personal space he'd finally provided her with. "You can take it back to your bunk and meet us in the lab in a half hour- it's time to log into your Avatar."

Ella tried to keep herself from walking too fast into the lab. She glanced into the experimental chamber- she saw everybody's Avatar lying on a bed.

Dr. Vixen was walking around calling out names and directing people to their respective link beds. Ella heard her name called and walked over to Dr. Vixen. The woman was typing a computer next to the bed and not looking at Ella as she asked "You've never logged?"

Ella had a feeling that she already knew the answer. "No. I read a manual last night..." she trailed off as the woman looked at her. Ella wasn't sure about the look on her face. Disdain, maybe.

Jim was assigned to the bed next to hers. Having already gone through log training before, he shot Ella a grin that looked more like a grimace as he hit the controls himself, hopped onto the bed, and shut the lid. Ella pushed down on the material that the bed was made out of and blinked in surprise when it seemed to suction around her finger like a gel. She pulled her hand back.

"Yes, it's squishy. Lie down." Ella looked at Dr. Vixen, who was pointedly looking at the computer screen and punching in a code.

Ella climbed onto the bed and slid down the bed until her head fit into the body shape that the gel was molded into. Dr. Vixen pushed the clamshell upon her and finished typing on the computer. Logan bounded over, rubbing his hands together. He put his hand on the lid of the bed and smiled down at her. "Ready, Ella?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she responded, laughing nervously. Logan chuckled. "Just relax. See you on the other side." he closed the lid and Ella was alone in the green-tinted prison.

Ella closed her eyes, trying to relax like Logan had instructed. The darkness seemed to be stretching over her eyelids as her body began to become limp. She was overcome with a sudden sense of fatigue...hadn't she gotten a good night's sleep? She felt like she was going into cryo again-

A blinding flash of light hit her with the force of a train. She felt her head spin as luminescent colors flashed before her eyes-

She opened them to Logan's smiling face.

"Welcome to your new body, Ella."

**Review? Yes? No? Thank anyway!**


	10. A Short But Heartwarming 9th Chapter

**OHAY I didn't see ya there!**

**Yes, I have another chapter done and I am, once again, posting from an undisclosed location. Enjoy and review please, I want to see if all of this work is worth my time!**

Ella's breath caught as Logan held a mirror roughly the size of the handheld computers the scientists carried around to her face. Her eyes were no longer small and chocolate brown- they were large, catlike yellow orbs. Her nose was flattened, and her face was triangular and aqua-blue- she reached up to run her fingers over her skin when she saw her hand move out of the corner of her eye. Three long fingers and a thumb on a thin hand flexed in front of her. She looked back into the mirror and touched her plum-colored lips and stroked her catlike nose. Her eyes rose to her hairline- the thick black hair was carefully braided into the tribal fashion and was currently flowing over the table, as it wasn't tied back. Blue ears peeked out from under the tendrils of hair. She touched them, giggling. She could see her facial features in the Avatar, but just barely.

Logan held out a hand as Ella tried to sit up. "Relax- you're not used to the new body yet. It's a good idea to take it slow." A crash told them that Rayne had decided to not take it slow. Katherine, who was tending to Tiara, told her to hold tight while she untangled her from the wires.

Ella turned to her left and saw Brandon in a lab coat and oxygen mask, tending to Daegan's Avatar. Daegan's handsome face was shown well in his Avatar. He tugged slightly on his braid and held up the end, staring at the queue in fascination. Brandon watched with jealousy in his eyes.

A coughing sound came from her right. To her surprise, Alexandrea was sitting up, rubbing at her throat and whimpering quietly. Tiara was already standing and rubbing her shoulder. "'C'mon, Alex...this is a new body...you can do it..." Alex took a deep breath. Ella saw her mouth move. The girl cleared her throat and tried again. "My...name...is...A-lex-an-dre-a...Alex-an-drea. Alex. Alex!" the girl covered her mouth to keep from squealing. "Alex! ALEX! I can talk!" she was beaming so hard, Ella thought her Avatar's face might rip. Everyone was watching the rebirth of a young life. Even Rayne seemed to be holding back a smile.

Ella felt something in her stomach as she watched Alex smile and Tiara throw her arms around her friend, laughing. She looked down at her body. Peeking out from the pale blue hospital gown were long, spindly blue legs. She rolled her ankles and wiggled her toes, wondering why her feet were intriguing her so. She pictured herself in Alex's shoes- she hadn't been able to speak for years, yet now, with this new body, she could. As she went through motor control tests with Logan, she remembered Jake, her sullen brother sitting grumpily in his wheelchair when she _ran_ into his apartment, and had _jumped_ onto his lap, as a smiling Tom followed, _walking_ in behind her. That was the only time he never smiled when she visited; those first few minutes when they were getting settled in. The initial happy-to-see-her smile was brief; the laughter seemed forced the rest of the time.

She frowned as she slipped off of the bed at instruction. How he must have felt when he got these legs, she thought as she took her first steps. A rush of emotion hit her with the force of a tidal wave. She bent over, trying not to sob in her new body. Crying was meant for long nights in her room.

"Ella? Ella? Are you alright?" Logan was kneeling next to her. Ella didn't feel fully relieved by the tranquilizer syringe he held. She felt a presence over her and she looked up at Jim's kind face. Jenna was kneeling by her other side. She reached for Logan and gently lowered the syringe. "Give her time," she said gently. Logan nodded and stood to go help Alex and Tiara. Ella remained in her hunched position until she composed herself. Face calm, she stood up and saw Daegan and Brandon watching. She smiled. "Let's test this thing out."

**Short chapter, but yeah, Ella finally got into her body! Huzzah!**

**-V**


	11. Chapter 10: They Know We're Here

**Aaaand here's another chapter! I have Thanksgiving break coming up, Thank ya Jesus- so I'll continue working with my time off. Enjoy!**

Ella stood at the edge of the beautiful Pandora forest, feeling uneasy. She didn't want to do such a thing, but Porter had said that the Na'vi wouldn't be quick to trust Ella on her peach-colored camouflage shirt and her dark green cargo shorts. "Humans are savages to them," he'd said. "If they get so much as an idea that we are not who we say we are, we will be killed faster that we can blink. That won't help your brother."

She glanced to her right for reassurance; Alexandrea knew much about Pandora wildlife; surely she would take over where Ella faltered.

She bent down and grabbed a spindly-looking plant and gently pulled it from the soil. She slipped it into her pack. Noticing Ella's curious glance, she smiled and held it up. "This is the proper material that the Na'vi use to make their clothing," she said. "This plant in particular is for the woman's top half. I have to warn you, it's going to feel very awkward at first- it'll feel like a super-skimpy bikini, I guess. But it'll feel like part of your body eventually. Guys have it easier, you know. They just need the loincloth and all-" she rambled on and on as the group traversed into the forest. Alexandrea had been talking like there was no tomorrow since getting into her Avatar body. Discovering the use of her voice in a brand new body had ignited something in her. She'd pulled herself out of her shell. Her fast-talking voice and bright laughter seemed to be making everybody happier.

Something moved in the corner of her eye that caused Ella to turn around.

"Brandon!" She hissed. The boy was angled behind the root of an enormous tree, keeping out of his brother's line of vision. She shook her head and glanced over her shoulder to see the rest of the group traversing ahead.

"Get over here, stupid." She snapped. She squatted next to the boy's six-foot tall stature. He really did look like a child compared to her nearly ten feet.

He glared up at her defiantly through his oxygen mask. "Look, I don't need a lecture. I just want some samples."

Ella sighed in exasperation. "And exactly what will the scientists think when you come in with samples when you're not supposed to have left base?"

"Daegan promised to bring me some; they'll never know the difference," he shot back. He walked around the tree and began searching along the roots.

"What are you supposed to be doing right now?" Ella challenged, talking only a few strides to catch up with him.

"In my room. Sleeping."

"Resting your wound," Ella generalized, pointing a long blue finger at the dark stain that was slowly blossoming on his shirt.

"Yes, resting my- _shit_!" Brandon dropped his bag of supplies and pressed a hand against his side, groaning in frustration. Ella bent to squat next to the boy and began picking up his supplies. He waved a hand. "I'll do it later," he grunted, his eyes squeezing shut in pain.

Ella shook her head and continued to clean up his supplies, ignoring his protests. "I'm not your enemy, Brandon." She said quietly. "This mission's objective is to find my brother. That's all I want."

Brandon looked down, sighing. "Ella," he said in a quieter tone. "I-I don't mean to be negative…but there's a slim to none chance that you'll find Jake up here. Closer to none. Not only is this a huge ass planet, but it's been however many years since the Revolution. Do you really think that he's really-"

"I just need to know the truth," she whispered. "I need to know what happened up here."

Brandon fell silent. Ella closed her eyes, hearing nothing but his steady breathing and the occasional call of some forest creature.

Ella suddenly cocked hear ears, hearing tiny, running footsteps. She leapt up. "Brandon-" she reached out a hand to him, but he slapped it away, snarling "_I got it_!"

Ella rolled her eyes at his egotism and leapt behind the tree, crouching with her clumsily handmade spear in one hand.

Brandon was still struggling to get up. He grabbed the side of the root and pulled himself over the top, only to lock eyes with somebody else.

A tiny Na'vi boy, wide-eyed and staring, not twenty feet away.

Brandon kept his eyes locked with the child until his mind could register his thoughts through his mouth.

"Shit."

The child fled. Ella leapt around the tree and scooped up Brandon's supplies with one hand. "Sorry about this, but you might've just marked up for death." She grabbed him and carried him bridal style back toward base. For once, he didn't protest. He still staring, horror-struck, back at the forest.

Ella met Trevor and Luis, who were standing right outside of base, conversing. They turned to see her running towards them. She knelt down and set down Brandon. "What- what-" Trevor sputtered out, staring at Brandon's blood-soaked shirt and his empty sample case.

"Listen to me. Do whatever you can to get around Kaul and the other scientists, but get him back to his room and get Logan to take care of him. I've got to go get the others." Ella turned on her heel and began running.

"Ella! Ella what happened?" Luis shouted after her. She stopped and faced them again.

"They know we're here," she said weakly.

Ominous muttering buzzed around the clan of blue creatures as they made their way to the base of Hometree, where Toruk Makto had called for a village meeting. The rumor was that little Teng had spotted one of the small-pasty skinned but dangerous aliens in the forest. This one had been slender, with matted brown fur upon his head.

"Do you think it's true?" Miyake muttered to her mate.

"Of course," Nka'Te muttered back. "I always knew those filthy creatures would return. I still don't trust the ones Toruk Makto allowed to stay. Who is to say that they didn't assist them in returning?"

Their young daughter, Tal'Na, gripped her bow and arrow tightly in her hand. She'd heard stories from her parents about these monsters- they'd attempted to wipe out her entire village when she was young. She'd blocked those memories out- she'd been merely an infant at the time. She was one of the lucky ones.

Her father was wrong. Toruk Makto, her mentor and friend wouldn't allow the other Sky People to stay if he didn't trust them. Whomever Toruk Makto could trust, she could also trust them.

She watched as Toruk Makto walked toward the Tsahik and her daughter, his mate. She'd never seen him so troubled in all her years.

"He may have been imagining things," Toruk Makto muttered to his mate, once he'd reached her. She was holding Teng in her arms- La'he stood next to her brother. Jake reached over and picked up his daughter, holding her close.

"But how would Teng have been able to describe exactly what the Sky People look like?" she whispered back. "You were one once, my Jake."

He nodded, remembering his years as a human. He swallowed, remembering every sight, every smell, and every person-

He pressed a kiss to the side of his daughter's head and set her down. Her mother pulled her close also, stroking the girls' hair.

"My People," he started. "It has been made clear to us that a possible threat has returned. One of the Sky People was spotted in the forest yonder south of here." Cries of horror erupted from the crowd as the people gasped in fear, grabbing onto their loved ones as though the collapsing of the Hometree was once again happening. He shook off the horrifying memories and held out his hand for silence. "I have discussed the situation with our allies- they will keep an eye out for any signs of impending danger."

He turned to his colleague. Even though it had been finished several years ago, it was nice to see his friend's Avatar body fixed after the shooting during the revolution. "Norm?"

His friend nodded and stepped forward. "My brothers and sisters," he said. "I have grown to love you as my own people- my family. I will do all I can to keep you, my family, safe. We will find out the truth." Hoots and howls shot out from the crowd.

Toruk Makto stepped forward again. "Should the Sky People have returned, I will see to it that anyone associated with them will be stopped. Anyone with information must immediately step forward. But for now, we simply keep out guard up. Life as we know it will continue. If need be, we must keep in mind that we have family- and that family will help us if we need to reiterate our message about whose land this is!" his fist shot in the air. Roaring erupted from the entire Hometree. The Omaticaya leapt up and down, shouting war cries.

He turned to his family. "As for you two," he said, looking at his children. "I expect you to only traverse with Txon Paya.

Teng felt the guilt tug at his heartstrings as his mother laid a kiss on his forehead. He'd as good as lied to them. He was sure he'd seen another Na'vi near the creature. And judging by the accusing glare La'he was throwing at him, she'd seen her too.

**Review? Yes? No? Thank anyway!**


	12. Authot's Note & Repost

So, I have to tell you guys...after rereading my own story and cringing several times, I've made the decision to ditch this version and rewrite the whole thing. If you'll notice, the summary for this and most of my other stories read on hiatus. That is because I am choosing to not give myself deadlines for posting until I have graduated. It was a difficult decision and I feel bad because I really want to get this story done because I LOVE it so much!

My problem with this story? I didn't know much about the Avatar world when I started writing. My problem as a writer is that I get too ahead of myself. Example: The thing about the dome was my cheesy explanation as to why Ella didn't have a mask. I basically researched more about Pandora and such and my rewrite is MUCH better.

So I'm going to post the first chapter of my rewrite (and the prologue) up. Tell me what you think of the rewrite!

Now, do you guys understand what is going on? They are on Pandora, the Omaticaya obviously know that they are there thanks to those sneaky devils La'he and Teng, but the Avatars do not look like Avatars. They were specifically designed to look like a perfect Na'vi. Humans are not supposed to be on Pandora.

Thanks!

-V


End file.
